(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle side monitoring system, and more particularly, to a vehicle side monitoring system that continuously and stably provides a side image of a vehicle for a driver even when an abnormality occurs in components for side-monitoring in the vehicle using an imaging device to monitor the side of the vehicle.
(b) Background Art
With the recent advances in image acquisition and display technology, view-securing devices have been developed in an attempt to replace existing side-view mirrors for checking the side and rear information of a vehicle, namely monitoring systems which display side-and-rear image information acquired by a camera on a display unit such that a drive may check the same.
In a vehicle equipped with a side and rear monitoring system, compact side-view cameras for capturing images around the vehicle are mounted on both left and right of the vehicle in place of existing side-view mirrors. In addition, image signals acquired by the side-view cameras are processed and displayed through side-view monitors within the vehicle, and a driver is then able to check the side and rear of the vehicle using image information displayed on a display unit.
When this side and rear monitoring system is applied to the vehicle, it is possible to resolve blind spots (e.g., decrease blind spots) caused by existing side-view mirrors and various other problems relating to the side-view mirrors. In other words, it is possible to prevent the collision or damage of the side-view mirrors protruding to the left and right of the vehicle, to resolve the need for attention to the anti-collision of the side-view mirrors during parking, and to resolve deterioration of the external appearance of the vehicle due to the protruding structure of the side-view mirrors.
Although an electric side-view mirror, which has recently been developed, is foldable when not in use, there are problems in that the electric side-view mirror is maintained in a protruding state and when the electric side-view mirror fails, repairs are costly. In addition, since a monitoring system using cameras (e.g., view-securing device) resolves problems relating to air resistance, noise generation, poor visibility during raining, etc. due to side-view mirrors, it may contribute to enhancing the marketability of the vehicle.
However, components for outputting side and rear monitoring images may malfunction even though the above side and rear monitoring system is used. Therefore, when the side and rear monitoring system does not have a separate fail-safe component, the system is unable to stably provide side and rear information to a driver. In order to resolve the above problem, Korean Patent No. 10-1299120, entitled “Dual-type side and rear monitoring system for installation within vehicle” (hereinafter, referred to as “document 1”) discloses a technique for providing a separate side-view mirror part when an abnormality occurs in the side and rear monitoring system.
FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of the system, and the system includes a mirror part located inside the vehicle, independently of side-view cameras according to the related art. However, since the mirror part as a fail-safe component disclosed in document 1 must be provided as a separate device within the vehicle, the system has space restraints. Accordingly, it may be difficult to provide wide side and rear fields of view which are basically provided by the side and rear monitoring system. Thus, there is a need for technology that provides a continuous image while maintaining a field of view provided by the side-view monitors of the vehicle, when an abnormality occurs in the side and rear monitoring system.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.